How many do I need?

I've never posted before but this thread has spurred me on. I am ADDICTED to bags of all kinds - a BAG ANON would be a wonderful idea. Mine are hidden all over the house - DH will have a fit when they all finally come to light. Some people collect stamps - I collect bags. And I do enjoy them ...

You would get on well with my friend June (aged 82) Lupatria. She astounded me one day by pulling out a hammer from the depths of her capacious bag! The handle screws off and it is prettily decorated with blue flowers but it is quite a tool and could easily be classed as an offensive weapon if she were ever to be arrested! I think she bought it in USA where both her sons live and she says it has proved useful lots of times!

My bag has a compartment for my inhaler, indigestion tabs., paracetemol, mints, nail file and clippers,mini-sewing kit, tissues and hand cleanser gel. Another for keys, one for purse and wallet and a final one for phone, pens and notebook and diary. It's a black cross-body, soft leather one from Amazon and cost about £16. When it's done I'll get another and ignore the half dozen previous rejects in the bottom of the wardrobe!

One handbag only. I can never face the hassle of moving stuff over from one bag to another. Usually I buy one a year - and usually from a charity shop. (Thnaks to you folk who donate these!) When my sister and I were younger we used to tease our Mum about her large handbag - which contained everything but the kitchen sink and was always referred to as "Granny's Disaster Bag". Now I'm the one with the large handbag, whilst Mum, (now 92) has a small one!

I've recently gone into handbags having been a shoeaholic all my life ! I also collect them from charity shops for economy. You can buy a special liner thing which has lots of pockets and can be transferred from one bag to another without all the trouble of sorting everything!
Agree wholeheartedly with the weight problem. Why start with a ton weight before you've even put your own kitchen sink in ?!

I only ever have one handbag, use it till it looks tatty, use it for a long time while it's tatty then eventually get another one and retire the worn out one. However, I don't throw it away till I'm having a good sort out (every few years) and find all sorts of forgotten treasure in it! I live in jeans and rarely have a reason to dress smartly although I did buy a beautiful skirt from a charity shop last week. It's made from a lovely bronze/gold satin and I bought it to pull apart for the fabric but realised it's so pretty and looks unworn. A gold bag would look good with it...

I can't understand the attraction of a handbag, I carry one only because I seem to have lots of 'tut' (phone. tissues. purse, bus pass, glasses etc, etc) to carry around, only criteria in buying a bag is that it's big enough to carry it all and is lightweight to start with, I can't even lift my daughter's bag!

Just back from giving an old Radley favourite to the charity shop and then read these posts. I do like different bags for different occasions and used a recent Radley bag for a smart Dinner last night and back to a black shoulder bagfor shopping today as hands free.

I don't know about handbags anonymous! I could do with a shoes anonymous, since being in a wheelchair I've acquired many 'irregular choice' and other multi coloured shoes. My philosophy is "why waste not be able to walk on boring shoes"

The reason we (I) have lots of different bags is because I love colour and wouldn't use a 'black' bag when I'm wearing lovely summery clothes!! (I enjoy making bags too so seem to have one to suit each occasion!!!) I don't possess a 'black bag' though (or brown come to that! Most of my bags are charity shop finds, unless made by moi! I've recently come to the conclusion that my bag doesn't always have to 'match' what I'm wearing ... It seems it's fine to 'mis-match' these days ... Yippee!

Kipling for me, have 4 of them, claret, navy, pink and turquoise - hmmm obviously I need another in black.... They are light, have loads of pockets and can just go in the washing machine when necessary, oh and the baby loves the monkeys!

Gagarin you made me laugh about your friend with the hammer. My family are convinced that I'm like Mary Poppins and have a coat rack in my bag but even I haven't got a hammer!!!

Sorry should have been Gagagran!

At our WI we produced a'time capsule' for the year 2000. One of the things we did was ask people to list the contents of our handbags. It was very interesting and, as it is now in the county archives, I think in a hundred years time it will fascinate readers.

When I was helping my Mother move from a house to sheltered housing,she had over 100 handbags!

Ooh. I love handbags.. Just given some to charity shop so have excuse to buy another.

Lack of space prohibits me from keeping many of them.
Having said that, I still have a few I can't part with.

I currently have around six or seven but rarely use them. Silly really.

I have 2 handbags which I interchange . I don`t understand the handbag hoarding either but whatever floats your boat !

This has made me think.....I also have far too many, and I hate the swopping of contents from one to another, I can never find anything in my bag, so decided to get a small bag so things would be easier to find (car keys), but I still can never lay my hands of what I want without having to almost empty the bag out, so big or small makes no difference, but definitely need lightweight. So, I'm going to cull all mine and keep my lovely orange one for summer and a couple of black ones for whatever and ebay all the rest! Kerching!! and less clutter, win, win.

This is so funny. Either you ARE a bag lady or you're not. Liz46, ( are you 46 or born 46? if latter same as me, if former I apologise!) reading your post it could be me. I also volunteer in a charity shop and buy far too many bags (and other things too!). At the moment I have a large cardboard box full underneath a large black bin bag full, and that's only the Summer bags. Probably the same amount in the loft (Winter bags!) Plus handbags and cross body bags in the wardrobe. Why do we do it? It's definitely an addiction.

A few years ago, 1 handbag was enough for me.
Then I discovered 'Dune' in Covent Garden.
Oops, not a good discovery financially, and worse still, I have discovered that a shop in my Town now stocks them.
I just love their detail.

I have one bag 'on the go' at a time. Always Radley, usually bought at Bicester village ,they usually last a couple of years.Current and last one teal coloured. I'm not bothered about matching although it does go with my best coat ..I have an old black fabric Radley bag I use for holidays when you are allowed one item of hand luggage only (it folds flat into suitcase)One Lilac cross body Kipling bag(monkey removed I really find them creepy) for city breaks .One black bag for funerals Two or three small evening clutches .
That's it .I'm not into shoes either,though I do have about 15 pairs including sandals and boots .
Now if you were to talk about pretty summer tops....last count I had 33, not counting a couple of T shirts

I have a bag organiser with lots of pockets, 2 zipped compartments and a central open one. I make my own quilted fabric bags so just move the organiser from one to another., depending on my mood. My bags are always commented on and cost very little. I do have a plain black one for funerals and a cream/tan leather one I won in a WI raffle at a big area meeting.

I make bags! Totes, clutches, handbags. I keep the 'seconds' for myself and today I made myself a really nice vintage style one. If you are good at sewing, bags are easy to make.
However I usually use a rucksack as I love all the pockets where I can stash things.

8 at last count.... I buy a new one at beginning of summer in a nice light colour so it goes with summer cloths, then a dark colour one for the winter months.This summers is from Zara.

I love bags, particularly Kipling ones, just adore the monkeys. I have several of theses. I don't however like the new trend from Kipling of PLASTIC/RUBBER monkeys....yeuk! I am also into the satchel type, remind me of my lovely old school satchel, I have 2 large and 1 small one. I have 2 unserved large storage containers full of bags, plus some overflows. I like to match my bag with my outfit. I have one 'designer' bag which I bought for around $1000 Singapore dollars, in the duty free in Singapore airport. Do you think I have a problem!!!

That should read underbed storage......flipping autocorrect